Europe embodies a rich culture of history, religion and politics. This culture can be read in retrospective in buildings, spread over the whole territory of Europe, such as churches and monasteries. Religious heritage often is described as something from the past, since Europe is still secularizing. In the Schoolchurch, religious heritage is not exclusively about the past. The medieval church and tower, with 16th century vault paintings is presented in close connection with brand new architecture and design, of the highest artistic level. Children are invited to learn about human beings as extremely imaginative creatures, in history as well as today. The unique, attractive and rich learning environment engages them to submerge into what people believed and found important throughout times, and today, and invites them to tell about their own believes, experiences and traditions. It's not our heritage we should foster and feed. It's our children, because they form the future. In the Schoolchurch we facilitate building a positive society, together. An urgent and beautifull task.

Every schoolday, children come and visit the Schoolchurch. They can admire the 16th century vault paintings, which present the lifes of Maria and Jesus, but also show weird little fantastic figures like greenmen, merman and griffins. "It seems like the greenmen are watching us, do they?", we're often asked. Well, maybe they do look down on us, and maybe they have been seeing people gathering in church for whatever they found important in their lifetime, in this magnificent church, the medieval church of Garmerwolde. Because that's what people do: they find things important and invent shapes to articulate that specific importance. These shapes can be recognized in the historical dimensions like vault paintings, in brick architecture, in grave poetry. But in the Schoolchurch, children can be overwhelmed also by the beautiful Escher-like staircase in the tower. It's such an experience to climb the steps of different heigths, to master this staircase that swirls like a limbodancer over and under the historic beams. And in doing so, they discover eight presentations of the intangible heritage of religious celebrations from the traditions of christianity and islam, brought together. Not mingled; these traditions are unique in themselves and present a richness and power of their own. But you can see a lot of similarities, because both religions are born from archfather Abraham. I shall tell you some more about these designs of celebrations. Children try not to touch the delicious food on the nerve spiral that represents Ramadan, so they experience the specific concentration and control that is needed to fast. Children shout their believes in the designs of ears, coming with the presentation of pentecost, and hear them included in so many voices from mouths at the walls next to the staircase. They feel the wind and the movement of inspiration, so important in pentecost. In every design, they are invited to do something in order to enjoy, learn and understand what the celebration means. Most important; they gather in the church afterwards with a smile on their face. They tell eachother what they felt, saw and experienced. They start to see also that everyone brings their own stories, beliefs and traditions, and everyone tries to finds the best shape and design to share that with others. People are imaginative, passionate and social creatures. Children perfectly understand that, and the rich learning environment provided by the Schoolchurch stimulates mutual understanding. Together, we build a positive society. I sincerely believe there is no greater task today, then learn our children how to live together, compassionately. That's what Europe should be all about; to form a historically and socially conscious and strong society, in which everyone matters. The greenman in the Schoolchurch of Garmerwolde sees everyday how hard we try and how much we care. He possibly would agree on how urgent it is to try to understand eachother! In his inscrutable smile we think we see something of approval! Agmar van Rijn, representing the Schoolchurch, an initiative of the Groningen Historic Churches Foundation. vanrijn@groningerkerken.nl / www.schoolkerk.nl

Europe has a history in which christianity has a major role. This Christian history is presented in our religious heritage everywhere in Europe. But ofcourse there's also the influence of islam, visible in mosks and art throughout Europe. The discourse on religion, culture and identity nowadays seems to be increasingly polarizing, and alieniation and hatred grows. Human rights however, are universal. A safe, democratic constitutional Europe must accommodate different voices and should always protect its citizens against the violence of oppressive dominance of ideology, which excludes and dehumanizes people. In the Schoolchurch, we reject a choice on which religious tradition is more important. We present religious traditions, not with the aim of transferring faith, but as a form of culture, in the purpose of stimulating people to tell and share their own stories. In the Schoolchurch, all voices can be heard. Prejudice is not convicted but gently exposed and discussed, to learn and understand eachother better. Europe is changing rapidly, and the world as a whole is transforming swiftly. More now than ever, we should strongly emphasize that everyone matters, every voice is valuable, and we should work every day on a positive European society.